Brothers Glazer as neighbors

O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? Right next door, is how Joel and Bryan Glazer would answer that question.

The Buccaneer brothers own townhouses next to each other on Harbour Island, and they've bought neighboring his and his properties on the Pointe at Harbour Island, an exclusive enclave of 10 lots.

According to public records, they haven't begun construction on the sites yet.

* * *

CATCH A RISING STAR: WindStar Homes, one of the newest entries in Hillsborough's crop of high-end home builders is finishing up construction on a home for New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada.

The 9,000-square-foot Old World-style house in Avila has a billiard room and home theater. For the plans, WindStar called on Orlando architects the Evans Group, which had designed a home for home-run hitter Barry Bonds.

WindStar has been in existence since 1996 but didn't get cooking until 2000, when company founder David Lesser teamed up with Bobby Gross. In the past two years, they've built 35 homes in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties and have eight projects under way. Most of their homes are priced above $800,000.

* * *

GIVING IT AWAY: Rick Barkett lived in his Culbreath Isles home for 19 years before deciding to tear it down and build a new one.

Before the wrecking ball moved, he invited Habitat for Humanity volunteers to come in and take whatever they wanted to sell in Habitat Builders Surplus, a north Tampa home store.

None of the salvaged items are used in the homes that Habitat builds. Those are all-new homes.

But proceeds from sales at the store benefit the organization. Everyone else benefits, too. Barkett got a nice tax writeoff for his donation, and those with a taste for vintage fixtures, used appliances or bargains have a reliable destination.

"We go in and do what we call a recycle prior to demolition," says store manager Mark Moore. "We'll pull all their light fixtures, appliances, banisters, anything that you can imagine that can be resold in a thrift store environment."

The store opened five years ago, and Moore says the inventory is spectacular, thanks to the trend of tearing down large homes in South Tampa to make way for even larger ones.

Recently, the store put a price tag of $275 on a pair of French doors with glass knobs taken from a structure built in the 1920s across from the Palma Ceia Country Club.

Also in stock is a turquoise, 1950s General Electric oven that's never been used, selling for $275. The store is located at 8100 N Florida Ave.

-- Write to Janet Zink in care of the St. Petersburg Times at 1000 N Ashley Drive, Suite 700, Tampa, FL 33602; or by e-mail, janet.zink@gte.net.